Monthly Archives: September 2010
Economy Lab
The email came the day I wrote a post called "Another rant about the Globe and Mail's coverage of economics." It was an offer "that I hope you can't refuse" – to participate in the Globe and Mail's new feature Economy Lab. Another day I might have said no, but I could hardly rant about […]
Why we should stop talking about inventories when teaching macro
Nothing earth-shattering here. This post is about teaching macroeconomics better. But there's just a chance it might help some of you understand macro a little bit better. Whenever we teach the Keynesian Cross (income expenditure) model, and the distinction between National Income Accounting identities and equilibrium conditions, we always talk about inventory accumulation. Planned vs. […]
Is the stimulus program already being phased out?
The federal government won't be bringing its 2011-12 budget down until at least four months from now, but there's already some discussion about just when its fiscal stimulus should be phased out. The government's current line is that the infrastructure program will end on March 31 as planned, with perhaps a certain amount of wiggle […]
Targeting the stickiest price.
Suppose the price of apples is sticky, but the price of everything else adjusts instantly to its equilibrium value. There is then an old, and strong, argument that monetary policy should target the price of apples. The economy performs best when all prices are at equilibrium. If the price of apples won't move (quickly) to […]
Is it getting harder to publish?
Another week, another rejection letter. Am I writing bad papers, or is it getting harder to publish?
The End of Finance? The monetisation of everything.
I know it's wrong, or at least deeply problematic, to adopt a teleological view of history: to say that History has an End, or Purpose, and is inexorably driven by deterministic Iron Laws towards that End, with perhaps an occasional hiccough along the way. But I can't stop myself. What is the End of Finance? […]
Should every child in Ontario have the right to attend a Catholic school?
Every child in Canada has the right to attend a free, government funded public school. But some schools are better than others. And the range of choices available to children varies widely – and arbitrarily – across the country.
Five years of Worthwhile Canadian Initiative
The first WCI post was written five years ago today. Since then, the number of bloggers posting here has increased to four and more than 1,000 other posts have been published, along with some 17,000 comments. I take a certain satisfaction in these numbers, so I'm going to indulge in a meta-post below the fold.
When academic publishing goes wrong: the case of missing women and Hepatitis B
This is a story about how something that turns out to be wrong can be published in a top journal, and what happens next. The Freakonomics team tell good stories, so I'll let them begin. In 2005, they wrote an article in Slate magazine lavishly praising the work of a young economist called Emily Oster.
Productivity and real wages revisited
Before the recession hit, the overriding concern for the Canadian macroeconomy was our poor record of productivity growth. As the recovery progresses, we can expect this discussion to move back to the forefront of policy debates. When we talk about the importance of productivity, the point is invariably made that increasing output per worker is […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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